Thursday were an Alternative Rock band from New Brunswick, New Jersey. They were one of the forefathers and Trope Makers of the 2000s Emo scene, credited for influencing many bands and bringing the emotive hardcore genre into the 21st Century. They would later switch to a more Alternative Rock sound with a bit of Shoegazing and Post-Rock elements while keeping what would be their distinct sound. They unfortunately have broken up as of 2011, after releasing No Devolución.
After splitting ways, members have joined other side projects while Geoff Rickly has toured solo (with some help from backing members and friends). He released his first mixtape (read: EP)
in November 2012, continued making music with his hardcore/powerviolence outfit United Nations and is now the lead singer of No Devotion, formed with the members of Lostprophets who are not pedophiles.
The band reunited in 2016 as part of an effort to repair their friendship after their previous split, before amicably breaking up again in 2019 after a long tour, though Geoff has left the door open for more shows due to international fans complaining that they didn't tour outside North America.
Members:
- Geoff Rickly - vocals
- Steve Pedulla - guitar
- Tom Keeley - guitar
- Tim Payne - bass guitar
- Tucker Rule - drums
- Andrew Everling - keyboards (post-War All the Time)
Studio Albums:
- Waiting (1999)
- Full Collapse (2001)
- War All the Time (2003)
- A City by the Light Divided (2006)
- Common Existence (2009)
- No Devolución (2011)
Everything Else:
- Five Stories Falling (EP, 2002)
- Kill the House Lights (Rarities compilation, 2007)
- Thursday/Envy Split (EP 2008)
Thursday contains examples for the following tropes:
- Abusive Parents: The topic of "Time's Arrow".
- Album Title Drop: The title of Common Existence can be heard in the closing track "You Were the Cancer".
- Broken Record: Repeated at the end of "Last Call":"Everything is falling apart."
- Careful with That Axe: Very often. From Geoff, backing band members, or guest vocalists (either Tim McIlrath from Rise Against or Tom Schlatter from You and I).
- Call-Back: "The Other Side of the Crash" tells of the other viewpoint of "Understanding in a Car Crash".
- Cover Version: They had quite a few, including Negative Approach's "Evacuate", Buzzcocks' "Ever Fallen In Love" among others.
- And with his solo tour, Geoff has covered Bruce Springsteen's "Atlantic City" and, bizarrely, Usher's "Climax" acoustic. The latter also appears on his mixtape.
- And with his solo tour, Geoff has covered Bruce Springsteen's "Atlantic City
- Crapsack World: The setting in "Paris In Flames" and "Autobiography of a Nation."
- "Day of the Week" Name
- Downer Ending: "i1100", the outro to Full Collapse.
- Driven to Suicide: Some of their lyrics revolve around the concept of suicide, and their experiences with loved ones who fell to this. One line in "War All the Time" talks about one of their friend's older brother who fell off a cliff.
- Grief Song: Geoff wrote "Standing on the Edge of Summer" about his dying grandmother.
- Joisey: The band is from New Brunswick. As you can tell from their lyrics, they're not very fond of their hometown. Especially evident in "Dying in New Brunswick" and "Counting 5-4-3-2-1".
- Literary Allusion Title: The band, consisting of literature fans, has a lot of references in their lyrics. One of them, War All the Time is named after a Charles Bukowski poem.
- Madness Mantra: The end of "Into the Blinding Light".
- New Sound Album: started with A City by the Light Divided. Their transformation would reach the apex with No Devolución.
- Perishing Alt-Rock Voice: mostly evident in Waiting and No Devolución
- Shout-Out: The band, big fans of Joy Division, have made many allusions to the band, naming one of their early songs after their iconic vocalist, "Ian Curtis". Also, "Love Has Led Us Astray".Love has torn us apart!
- The line "the needle and the damage done" in "Understanding In a Car Crash".
- Spoken Word in Music: Geoff loves to do this a lot. One of many examples in "Paris In Flames":Here in this collapsed lung of a borough
There is no sunlight
The sunlight is manufactured in a windowless room
Distant and incoherent businessmen hang themselves.- Waiting's closing track "Where the Circle Ends" is just Geoff rehearsing a long poem set to the rest of the band playing.
- Surreal Music Video: "Signals Over the Air", "Cross Out the Eyes"
- Take That, Critics!: "Stay True":"Disregard the critics' praise, they'll be the first to tell the news that you've sold your soul."
- Title Track: War All the Time. Common Existence also has one, but it's been reduced as a B-side.
- Translated Cover Version: Surprisingly averted with their cover of Sigur Rós' "Ny Batteri". Geoff sings it as is, in Icelandic.
- Uncommon Time: "Steps Ascending" is still a 4/4 song, but switches up to 7/8 time in the middle of the song.
